80-Year-Old Religious Man Ends Life By Lighting His Own Funeral Pyre

An 80-year-old man from India allegedly ended his life by lighting his own pyre on Monday, Feb 28. The incident took place at a village in Kuhi tehsil in Maharashtra's Nagpur district, police said.

The deceased was identified as Atmaram Motiram Thawkar, who belonged to an affluent family and was a follower of the Varkari sect, a religious movement within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism.

According to his family members, the elderly man had undergone trachea surgery in 2006 but had not been completely cured.

As in step with the preliminary probe, he carried out ‘puja’, a Hindu ritual, at a temple in the village, collected firewood, and made a pyre in a field. His half-burnt body was discovered later, the NDTV reported.

The exact motive behind the man’s decision to end his life is not known at this time. A further probe is underway, police said.

A similar incident was reported in 2016, when a 57-year-old man killed himself reportedly by lighting his own funeral pyre at the compound of his house at Kodungallur, Kerala.

The deceased, identified as Balan left a suicide note in which he said he was offering his body to 'Agnideva' (Lord of Fire).

The police said Balan, who ran a medical store at Mathilakam, was a religious person.

Family members became suspicious when they noticed his footwear near the pit. Upon inspection, they found the burning firewood alongside a charred body.

The body was almost burnt to ashes when the police arrived at the scene.

In another similar incident, a man in the western Indian state of Gujarat lit his own funeral pyre in a crematorium in Adipur town.

Haresh Advani went to the crematorium and told the guard that someone in his family had died and asked them to prepare a pyre.

When the guard went home for dinner Advani set himself ablaze. By the time the guard returned he had suffered 80 percent burns.

He was taken to a local hospital but died from his injuries.

Officials said Advani, an unemployed divorcee, was mentally unsound.